GOP lawmakers rebuke Elon Musk's primary threats, say Trump's legislation 'something we've got to do'
As lawmakers march toward a vote on President Donald Trump s big beautiful bill House Republicans aren t too worried about primary threats from tech billionaire Elon Musk Musk who once served as the head of Trump's Department of Authorities Efficiency DOGE has been highly critical of the president s legislative agenda He had remained quiet about the bill until earlier this week when Senate Republicans were making strides to pass it We don't take threats lightly up here Rep Buddy Carter R-Ga stated Fox News Digital And you know Elon we appreciate all the work he did with DOGE and he did selected fine work several great work but at the same time this is something we've got to do JEFFRIES STALLS TRUMP'S 'BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL' FOR HOURS AFTER HOUSE GOP MUTINY BREAKTHROUGHMusk again returned to bemoan Republicans for supporting the legislative behemoth for its staggering trillion price tag and the impact it would have on the nation s already massive trillion debt He went so far as to threaten to back primary challengers against any Republican that voted for the bill It wouldn t be the first time that Musk has been involved he dumped millions into Trump s campaign last year Now House Republicans are gearing up to vote after hours of delays negotiations and a near record-breaking amount of open floor time in the lower chamber Additionally numerous don t care about Musk s threats TRUMP CALLS OUT REPUBLICAN HOLDOUTS AS HOUSE PROCEDURAL VOTE ON MEGABILL REMAINS OPEN COSTING YOU VOTES Rep Tim Walberg R-Mi recounted Fox News Digital that he was focused on doing the best we could do which is frankly better than what Elon Musk did I don't worry about Elon Musk he reported I do know that DOGE identified specific good things that we needed to remedy in this leadership But the trillion that Elon declared he was going to find he didn't Musk took particular issue with the Senate s changes to the bill too and slammed it for adding trillions to the deficit Rep Brad Knott R-N C noted that the bill cuts north of trillion in an effort to help offset the cost of extending or making permanent Trump s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act TRUMP'S 'BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL' STALLS IN HOUSE AMID CONSERVATIVE MUTINY THREATS I appreciate Mr Musk's motivation he informed Fox News Digital I appreciate his focus on debt reduction and I hope he'll take a step back and realize that we're still all on the same club here While the Senate s changes particularly to Medicaid and a reduction in the rollback of green capacity subsidies from former President Joe Biden's Inflation Reduction Act among other cost-driving issues gave fiscal hawks in the House heartburn House Republican leadership is confident that the bill will pass